A Video Of An Injured Turtle Left Me Speechless. Then I Found My Voice.

Young people are the future, and that future is being threatened by plastic pollution.

When I first saw the viral video of a turtle with a plastic straw stuck in its nostril and throat, I was speechless. I had known that plastic waste was a problem, but never so deeply understood the harm it causes to those around us.

As a young person, I've grown up around messages that I'm just a kid, and not capable of much. But when I joined students in my school environmental club to start a petition to eliminate the unnecessary use of plastic straws in our county, I was reminded of the power we had.

Young people are the future, and that future is being threatened by plastic pollution. I'm working to bring more youth into this growing movement.

We need the restaurant industry to do its part in controlling the plastic waste that plagues our oceans – that's why I launched my second petition, this time asking Subway Restaurants to ditch plastic straws.

Since its launch, my petition has garnered over 140,000 signatures and acquired international support from passionate citizens and activists that have shared with me their own concerns about plastic straws and their lasting impact, and why they believe Subway should be the next restaurant to step up and help curb plastic waste.

If Subway chooses not to act, young people will take note. We are the ones who will inherit the earth as she continues to heat, the oceans filling every day with more plastic, the skies clogged with pollution. This is unacceptable, and will vote with our dollars and our feet against corporations who won't react to protect us from this fate. The time to act is now: if we are to preserve our time on this planet, we must move in stride with the Earth, and not against it.